Ambani vs. Ambani: It was all gas!

In a severe blow to the Anil Ambani group (Adag) seeking cheap gas from elder brother Mukesh-led RIL, the Supreme Court on Friday (today 7th May, 2010) said that the Government of India has the right to the last word on pricing and utilisation of national assets like gas. The court held that all the [...]

Real estate: Learnings if any

Prior to World War II most people in the world were happy living in rented houses. This gave rise to concepts like ‘pagdi’ where you paid a sizeable deposit and a small rent. Mumbai used to be full of such properties . In fact this gave rise to sayings like ‘Fools build (buy?) houses, Wise [...]

Two important news items: Times of India, Mumbai edition, 1st April, 2010

There are two news items in today’s Times of India – both related to personal finance. One is about Naushad (who knew the perils of not making a will, but STILL did not make a will). The film industry is full of people with wrong products.  “I know my children, they will never fight over [...]

Scriptures and Investing

I had to speak at a Church (Parish) in Mumbai on Investing. In a religious gathering it was necessary to keep in mind what the scriptures said about investing. So the topic I chose was ‘Scriptures and investing’. The Christian community is quite conspicuous in its absence in the financial services field – especially in [...]

Real Estate prices: Mumbai and Navi Mumbai

Why is Navi Mumbai real estate so expensive? Or is it correctly priced? Well answers are difficult to get. A decent 2 bedroom apartment costs upward of @Rs One crore. Even for a professional who has a nice starting salary of say Rs. 500,000 gross income (per annum) the cost of a flat is about [...]

Do not need life insurance…

http://www.subramoney.com/book-written-by-me/ Surely when somebody approached Mr. Dinanath Shinde and Mr. Afzal Maknejia for buying life insurance, they must have said: a. I do not need life insurance or b. At my level I cannot afford life insurance. Agents hear this day in and day out. Little did they realize that a drunk Nooriya Haveliwala would [...]